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This Week in Tech News

Tired of the intrusion into his privacy, Leo decided to quit Facebook last night. Leo says that when Facebook users take quizes on Facebook, the quiz maker gets access to ALL your personal information, as well as the information of your friends - without THEIR consent. And Leo says Facebook refuses to do anything about it.

This week, Leo got the Samsung Galaxy S9 and it's not only got one of the best cameras ever, but DxOMark says the screen is practically perfect in every way. Leo also says he's pleased that the fingerprint reader was finally put in the right place. But what's strange for him is that there's not much difference between the Galaxy S9 and the Note 8. Maybe a faster processor and slightly smaller, but they're practically the same.

Magic Leap has been a company that's been all hype and no action for years, despite all of the great demos they have on their website. Now the company says it's making a prototype that looks like welder's glasses for augmented reality. This means it would put virtual things on top of the real world, so you're not completely isolated like you would be with virtual reality. Magic Leap says it will release its system to developers sometime this year. It features glasses, a small Discman sized computer that can attach to your belt, and a controller.

With Ready Player One set to come out later this year, Leo says there are a ton of virtual reality exhibitions at the annual South by Southwest Interactive Festival this week in Austin. Leo also saw a mockup WestWorld outside of Austin. Tickets sold out in minutes.

According to a new study, the more outrageous fake news tweets you see on Twitter, the more likely it will be retweeted, while actual news only gets retweeted about 1/4 of the time. Leo says that this is driving many to give up the social media app altogether. And those who have stayed, Leo says it works as an outrage engine to rage at the machine.

Leo has been testing the Owl Car Cam, and he likes it so much, that he's tucked all the cables inside his car, meaning he's keeping it. It isn't cheap, however, at $350, but it's packed with features. It has dual cameras, front facing and rear facing, GPS, and its own LTE internet access, so it can upload any footage after it happens. It will also notify you via text if the car has been hit while you're not in the car, using motion sensors. It also plugs into the diagnostics port of the car and gets powered by it.

Leo says that the rumors are strong that Apple will announce three new iPhones this Fall, and Leo says that notch haters are going to be disappointed. It's here to stay. So much so that Android manufacturers are starting to copy it.

Lately, Leo has been taking advantage of MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses. These are college and university courses that are available online for free. There are a lot of ways to do this — iTunes U is a great way to find free courses on the Mac or iOS device. MIT has its CourseWare, and there are even courses provided by Yale and Harvard. There are also commercial MOOCs like Udacity and Kahn Academy. A lot of high school students looking for help on difficult subjects like Calculus and Physics can go to YouTube and watch Kahn Academy videos.

Pew Research Center on Internet and Technology did a study on social media and the stats for early 2018 were surprising. 78% of 18-24 year olds use Snapchat, and most of them visit the platform many times a day. 71% of 18-24 year olds also use Instagram, and only 45% Twitter. Roughly 2/3rds of US adults say they use Facebook, and 3/4 of that number on a daily basis. Facebook is easily used by the majority of Americans every single day. YouTube's numbers were even higher. 73% of adults say they use YouTube.